The heavy metal genre of music started in the 1960s. This is a spinoff of rock music that now has its own culture. It has gotten to the point where there are now sub-genres of it. This is a type of music that has heavy bass lines and extended guitar solos. This is a loud music with amped up distortion and complex beats. The front man is usually the lead guitarist although each band differs.

A sub-genre of heavy metal is trash metal and this genre was said to be started by the rock band Metallica. They are one of the bands who have significantly influenced the heavy rock genres. This band has seen many ups including having numerous records being labeled as classics and of course they have seen some bad times as well. They may arguable be the best heavy metal band in the world.

One by Metallica in my opinion boosted the band into the limelight with the classic black and white video that dared to go into the realm of fans calling them a sell out. What happened was Metallica was catapulted into a larger crowd who also embraced heavy metal. At Seven minutes and 23 seconds this video weighs in as a long one, but it is a good one for classic fans of Metallica.

Ozzy Osborne is an English rock star that has also been very influential factor on the heavy metal genre. He became popular in the early part of the 1970s. The Black Sabbath band which Ozzy was the lead vocalist style, heavy with dark sounds, has been said to be keys of the genre’s development. They are pioneers in the heavy metal music genre.

Iron Maiden is a band that has also been very influential on the heavy metal genre. They are said to be even more influential that Ozzy Osborne’s Black Sabbath. They were the pioneers of modern metal, combining the sounds and styles of the greats before them. Their albums sales are in the eighty five million range and they are the best live band performers of all time.

Many bands have come and gone and some have made a positive impact on the genre but they are just some bands and some characters that are hard to forget and influential. These are just a few of the bands that have significantly influence this genre of music with others including Judas Priest, Motor Head, Slayer and others.